ASHEVILLE – Whether it flows out of their faucets or drops onto their roofs, city residents would pay more for water starting July 1 under proposals presented to a City Council committee Tuesday.

Council’s Finance Committee voted to recommend to the full council approval of a 1.6 percent increase in the rates the city charges residential customers for drinking water but decided to study further the idea of increasing the amount property owners pay for city pipes, ditches and drains to handle stormwater anywhere from 37 percent to 71 percent.

The rate increase for drinking water would represent a continuation of a city policy in recent years to adjust rates annually to bring in funds to make needed repairs to the system and address the disparity in rates paid by residents and businesses.

Rates for commercial and manufacturing customers would go up by 3.4 percent. A consultant told City Council in February 2011 that the city’s rate structure at the time meant residential users were subsidizing the cost of providing water to business customers.

The capital improvement fee paid by all customers would go up 1.5 percent. The new rates would bring in $458,000 in additional revenue.

City homeowners pay $2.34 per month per home to support the city’s stormwater system. Other property owners pay an amount at an equivalent rate based on the square footage of impervious surfaces like roofs and parking lots on their property.

City staffers proposed raising the amount to anywhere from $3.20 to $4 per home.

“We have a very old infrastructure,” said McCray Coates, who manages the city stormwater system.

Coates said the increase would allow the city to deal with the system’s maintenance backlog and take steps proactively to prevent stormwater problems.

When the city got about 75 inches of rain last year, Coates said he had lots of discussions with property owners concerned about drainage issues.

“Although the conversations were different, the message was the same, and that was that they wanted to see an increased level of service from the stormwater group,” he said.

Councilmen Marc Hunt and Gordon Smith said they both want to deal with the issue aggressively, but want more information about how much of an increase is needed and what the proceeds would be used for.

Next stepsThe drinking water rate increase is likely to be considered by City Council in April. The stormwater issue will come back before the committee next month.